Mhsc

To be fair the other route would just be send him somewhere he should be able to impress (even if he doesn't improve at all), and maybe in the Bundesliga or in Italy he would bang out a 10+ goal season at the right team, and then flip him for a small/moderate loss in a years time and call it a day.

He could definitely use a loan but also he needs top quality coaching and he needs to compete in a good league, ideally the PL. Got to be a club in the PL with a big need at LW and a coach with a reputation for helping players to improve?

Yes I believe you're right. I think that is also the only reason "transfer requests" have any meaning - it means the player has agreed to forfeit that money to go.

I agree with Vesper about JD, at £20m he WOULD be a bargain but imo this is fake price / fake situation: the guy & his agent have almost definitely simply briefed everyone he is not moving and will be available for discussions in Jan about a pre-agreement, given that he has only 1 year left on his contract he can cash in like crazy if he just waits. Be crazy for him to agree to a deal now unless in the circumstances we put Gallagher or Sterling under. He may not be perfect but his record is his record and in this day and age he's easily a £50m+ player - we will no doubt try to talk to him in Jan if for no other reason than potential to make a killing flipping him for profit...

Don't they still want sales because of PSR?

Righto just watched the replay - missed the game live as I was busy with my partner having our first baby delivered :) Lovely to watch how dangerous we are going forward - Neto and Palmer both look excellent and we know they can do it in PL. Great game from Madueke as well obviously. Coaching will sort out Caicedo's performance(s) in the pivot imo, he's just rushing things a bit when he doesn't need to and other times not rushing it a bit when he does need to, but he'll totally get it. Hope Lavia is back soon though, he is in better form (and had a proper preseason). Earlier in this thread there was some talk around how toxic it is on this forum and in general in the Chelsea fanbase now, and how lots of people are becoming disengaged and lurking instead of posting. I feel this! I also lurk a lot simply because the toxicity is so strong and it feels a bit like going to an opposition's forum sometimes, when you check out the threads they have about your club. Unfortunately this will only go away (a bit) if we go on a sustained winning run, we saw the same from Arsenal and lots of clubs when they were shit and poorly run for ages. Winning is the best tonic.

Is it me or Fofana has a really terrible/dangerous habit of playing people onside? He always drops deep before the other players and plays people on.

That guy is a total nobody just making up BS He's also just posted this nonsense, even though its been known for MONTHS that they are happy not to take the release clause (obviously as they have no choice)

I don't really care what happens with Sterling, the worst case of him rotting in the reserves is a purely theoretical worst case (no way he will actually suicide his career like that at 29, just to prove a point), the realistic worst case is we loan him every year for some loan fee with the other club covering his wages til he is gone, but I'd say the average case outcome is we do a swap deal involving him for someone we don't 100% want/need but wont mind having ala Felix. He's part of our past now and good riddance tbh. I really gave the guy a chance and appreciated him in those moments where he found his form, but he came here because he wanted to play guaranteed football and step up as a leader - he's failed on all fronts there. He's still just an inconsistent squad player with an attitude problem.

Promising signs, I trust Maresca to know what to do to make us play better in the second half. Thought Enzo was poor and I don't think it had anything to do with the position he was playing - simply failed at the basics of football all half. No first touch, no composure.

Definitely. I think we would have Duran now but Conor rejected the move to Villa so the swap never happened

Forgiving the odd misplaced pass during build up I mean. Lots of people on here hating on us trying to play it out and say our CBs can't do it but Sailba drops a howler that should have cost them a goal, just goes to show its part of the game and even the best players do that. Doesn't mean we should forgive them for not being able to win basic 1:1s or sprinting back to cover the goal etc of course.

That's another school boy mistake in defence, instead of conceding they somehow get the ball back, down the field and score themselves

Awful pass from Saliba right in front of his own goal - difference is when we do it we don't get away with it. Need to be more forgiving with our CBs.

Is there a talkchelsea FPL group btw? I am playing for the first time in many years

100%, painful to watch how good they've become but honestly think we have more talented individuals (except CB) and if we give it time we will be better than them.

Never a red card in my book - wouldn't even give them a yellow for that. Might be a yellow for the man that goes down for play acting. What has happened to football.

edit: oops wrong thread

One of our most overrated young players ever.

If PSG come in with a big offer and take him off their hands for stupid money then that should just unlock a Lukaku transfer with them paying full price for him

Imo Jonathon & his agent probably told all suitors that he is moving on a free in 2025 and not interested in any move before then, told them to wait and talk in Jan. That's what I'd do.

Why so desperate for us to pay huge money for Osimhen and put him on a super expensive contract? With his injury record? And one season in his career where everything he touched went in? In Italy? We've seen so many players fail to even get close to their performance in either Italy or the Bundesliga when coming to PL - some do, some don't. Huge risk to pay big for him imo, could set us back for years if it goes wrong. I don't get the desperation personally. It is Napoli that are desperate, not us.

I imagine any supposed interest in Joe Gomez is the typical "Hey we'll buy your £0 book value player for £40m if you'll buy our £0 book value player for £40m" - maybe Chalobah?

Bit heartless. He had a gambling problem from 2017-2021 and he's tried to turn his life around, been in therapy for it and fully admitted what he's done - he's not a rapist, or a murderer. I have it in my heart to forgive a person's past mistakes in plenty of circumstances, including the rather ridiculous circumstance of a man betting on himself to score. John Terry was a much worse human being than Ivan Toney (not that it is a competition) and we let him play for us despite the many despicable things he kept doing. I don't think we will sign him but if we did my concerns would purely be footballing related.

Would happily play them every week